


Authority

by Luzula



Category: due South
Genre: Gen, ds_snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-30
Updated: 2008-11-30
Packaged: 2017-10-02 16:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luzula/pseuds/Luzula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damn him, the man was insubordinate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Authority

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts: weight, wait

Without moving her head, Margaret sneaked a quick glance upwards.

Dark brown uniform, gleaming buttons. He'd won that one, she had to give him that. Constable Fraser stood in front of her desk, the still weight of his body in a posture of attention. Somehow she felt that he knew she was looking.

She decided to let him wait a while longer, and turned a page in the report she was pretending to read.

Damn him, the man was insubordinate. Oh, not that he deliberately disobeyed orders, but he was a threat to her authority. This was her first command, and if she couldn't keep her subordinates in line, no one would take her seriously.

She set her papers aside and deliberately looked up.

"Well? I gave you a direct order. Would you care to explain why my letter didn't reach the Swedish ambassador before eleven o'clock?"

"Sir. It was entirely my fault. While walking to the Swedish embassy, I happened upon a street musician whose guitar had just been stolen, and..."

Mistake, she thought as she listened to the increasingly improbable story. She shouldn't have let him explain--now if she chastised him, she'd sound callous. He hadn't performed his duty, and that was that. It was her job to see the larger issues, and his to obey, not go running around trying to stop every crime in the city (an impossible task, anyway).

Margaret stood up abruptly, tired of looking up at him (of course, she was still doing that). She felt exposed, wishing her skirt were longer, even though she knew perfectly well the length that etiquette dictated. His face was perfectly composed, awaiting her punishment or orders.

"You're on guard duty the rest of the afternoon. Dismissed," she snapped. He saluted and left her office.


End file.
